Category: News

Freedom Gymnast Sydney Wrighte Named Viva Loudoun Athlete of the Month

South Riding, VA (March 18, 2017) – Please join us in congratulating Freedom’s Sydney Wrighte as the February 2017 Performance Edge/Viva Loudoun Athlete of the Month!

“It’s a great honor to be named Athlete of the Month, I know there are so many competitive athletes in this county, to be recognized is just an honor,” Wrighte said.

A junior with the Eagles, Wrighte has been dominating the gymnastics scene for the last three years. This year she swept all four individual categories–beam, floor, uneven bars and vault–and the all-around at both the conference championship and the regional championship. She then took home her second consecutive VHSL state championship title by winning the all-around at the state meet.

Wrighte won the VHSL 5A State Championship on Feb. 18 at Patriot High School. (Photo © Michael Hylton/Viva Loudoun)

At the VHSL 5A State Championship, held on Feb. 18 at Patriot High School, she took the top spot on the beam, floor and uneven bars, and finished second on vault en route to her impressive victory. Despite feeling extra nerves as the defending state champion, she was able to overcome those emotions as she felt she gave her best performance of the year on the beam and the floor.

“It was only my second time ever going to states individually, so I was still pretty intimidated,” Wrighte said. “There’s so many gymnasts that you don’t see until that meet, you don’t really know what your competition is like, you’re looking at everyone warming up and sizing up your competition, so it’s kind of scary but I’m just proud to come out number one.”

Admittedly, she believes the mental component is the most difficult part of the sport. Yet, the mental hardships only seem to make her better.

“I always put a lot of pressure on myself, I think it’s good to put pressure on yourself because that’s when you get the best out of yourself,” Wrighte said.

Thanks to her outstanding performance at states, she helped Freedom finish in second place as a team, just one year removed from their state title as a group in 2016.

“I know it wasn’t first, but being runner-up in the state is a great accomplishment,” she said.

The team championship during her sophomore season remains her favorite memory as a gymnast, as she was able to share a special moment with her teammates in what is typically a very individual sport. The Eagles have now reached states as a group in each of Wrighte’s three years with the program.

Wrighte has led her team to three straight appearances at the state championship. (Photo © Aaron Wyche/Viva Loudoun)

Wrighte has the rare opportunity to compete for her mother, Laura, who coaches the Eagles. According to the thriving gymnast, her mother has been the biggest influence in her career thus far.

“My mom is a pretty big influence, she coaches gymnastics and I feel like she helps me learn about the sport in every aspect, and I get to see it through her eyes,” she said. “When we’re in the gym practicing or at a meet, I do see her as my mom but she is my coach in that moment, I don’t even call her my mom in practice, I call her Coach Wrighte.”

Under her mom’s guidance, she was able to qualify for states due to her strong performances at the conference meet held in her home gym at Freedom and the VHSL 5A North Region meet at Park View on Feb. 8. Like the state meet, she admits to feeling extra pressure at the regional meet, but was able to rise above the jitters.

“Again, it was a little nerve-racking because we hadn’t seen many of the teams before and we started on floor which isn’t the best rotation, but I felt like as the meet went on my events got better and better,” Wrighte said.

After yet another remarkable season, Wrighte was recognized as the 2017 All-Loudoun Gymnast of the Year, an award she has now won three consecutive years.

“It’s a great honor as well, I had a lot of competition this year, and just to come out number one and be named Gymnast of the Year is a great honor, I don’t even know how words can describe it,” she said.

Wrighte is a three-time All-Loudoun Gymnast of the Year. (Photo © Michael Hylton/Viva Loudoun)

Although she qualified for states individually as a freshman in 2015, she was unable to compete due to a scheduling conflict. With states originally marked for a date in which she could attend, it was moved after a winter storm hit Northern Virginia. The new date coincided with one of her club team events and she missed out on the chance to represent Freedom.

Wrighte’s club team is Hill’s Gymnastics Training Center in Gaithersburg, Md., a program under the helm of legendary coach Kelli Hill. Hill was inducted into the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2005, and has coached multiple Olympians, including Dominique Dawes (1992, 1996 and 2000 Olympic Teams).

As a gymnast with high aspirations, she trains over 22 hours per week and has been able to travel all over the country with the sport. She has competed in California, Colorado, Florida, Las Vegas, and more, and hopes to continue with gymnastics at the collegiate level.

“I hope to keep doing it in college, that’s my main goal,” Wrighte said. “I hope to earn a scholarship, but if that doesn’t work I would be perfectly fine to walk-on to a school I love, I just hope to compete.”

Written by Josh Apple
Special to Viva Loudoun
Copyright © Viva Loudoun Media Communications LLC.
All Rights Reserved
@JoshApple1

Heritage Gymnast Leah Trepal Named Viva Loudoun Athlete of the Month

Leesburg, VA (February 12, 2017) – Please join us in congratulating Heritage’s Leah Trepal as the January 2017 Performance Edge/Viva Loudoun Athlete of the Month!

This unbelievable gymnast finished first place in the All-Around category in the first eight meets she competed in as a sophomore for Heritage, including all four meets in January. She took the top spot at the Conference 21 East Tournament on Feb. 1 held in her home gym, before going on to finish second on vault and fourth on floor at the VHSL 5A North Region meet at Park View on Feb. 8.

She will be moving on to compete at states at Patriot High School in those two events on Feb. 18.

Trepal won her first eight All-Around competitions this year with Heritage. (Photo © Aaron Wyche/Viva Loudoun)

Trepal is a natural athlete who began playing the sport at the youthful age of four. Since those early days, she has been a member of the Apex Gymnastics club in Leesburg where she is currently a Level 9 gymnast and practices about 16 to 20 hours per week. She also has a background in soccer and is a varsity cheerleader for the Pride.

Although she is a sophomore, Trepal is in her first year of gymnastics competition with Heritage.

“I’ve always really loved gymnastics, and I can’t really see myself not doing it. And doing it this year has really motivated me to continue it and do it next year, and I feel like I’m going to pursue it all the way through high school,” Trepal said.

In four meets in January, Trepal cruised to All-Around victories, which combines the balance beam, floor, uneven bars, and vault, at John Champe with a score of 37.325, Park View with a score of 36.55, Loudoun Valley with a score of 37.275, and a home meet at Heritage with a score of 37.375.

Despite all of her success in January, she admits to feeling extra nerves during the Conference Tournament held in her home gym on Feb. 1, which she won with the best All-Around score of her career, a 37.575. She scored an astounding 9.8 on vault, 9.7 on floor, 9.3 on the balance beam, and an 8.775 on the uneven bars.

Leah Trepal poses during her beam routine in at the Conference 21 Championships. (Photo © Aaron Wyche/Viva Loudoun)

“I felt a lot of pressure going into that meet because all my friends were there,” Trepal said, “and the people at Riverside and Rock Ridge, I compete against them at Apex as well, and they’re all really good gymnasts. And I felt pressure going into vault because that is one of my strongest events and I know my friends are really good at vault too.”

According to Trepal, her best event is vault, an event in which she has achieved a score as high as 9.9 in her booming career. Admittedly, she has room to improve on the bars as she progresses in her tenure with the Pride and with Apex.

The rising star credits Apex with getting her to the level of success that she is now achieving in gymnastics, but also sees her Heritage coach, Jennifer Aubel, as a key mentor in her life.

“I love Coach Aubel, she has really motivated me and helped me become the gymnast that I am,” Trepal said. “And I think that she has really brought our whole team together and we all bond really well. She has done everything she could have done for me, and she makes me feel really good about myself.”

Similarly, Coach Aubel has high praise for her young gymnast, who has had to adjust her club routines to fit the high school requirements.

“Leah is a very talented athlete with beautiful lines and is very elegant in her movements,” Aubel said. “She’s trained for many years at club and wants to be successful in all areas. She’s a good student and a good example to younger gymnasts of what you can achieve when you work hard.”

In four meets in January, Trepal cruised to All-Around victories. (Photo @ Aaron Wyche, Viva Loudoun)

That exemplary hard work over the course of her life has given Trepal opportunities to travel all over the state of Virginia as well as New York, Tennessee and Pennsylvania, and says the New York trip has been the highlight of her career thus far.

“When I went to the New York meet last year, I really enjoyed being in the city, it was so much fun and entertaining to be there and to experience everything there other than just the meet. And the competition was really awesome too,” Trepal said.

Trepal has hopes to one day compete at the collegiate level, and is eyeing JMU, Penn State, and Virginia Tech as possible schools at this point.

However, she still has much more that she wants to achieve for the Pride as she heads into the state meet later this month as just as a sophomore, and Coach Aubel is excited to watch her develop over the next two years in Leesburg.

“I am looking forward to continue working with her over the next couple of seasons,” Aubel said. “I’m glad she decided to participate in high school gymnastics as it has boosted her confidence in her abilities as an athlete.”

Viva Loudoun: We Live For Loudoun™

Written by Josh Apple
Special to Viva Loudoun
Copyright © Viva Loudoun Media Communications LLC.
All Rights Reserved
@JoshApple1

Viva Loudoun has teamed up with Performance Edge  to recognize an outstanding Loudoun County student-athlete, and their exceptional achievements for a given month by naming a Viva Loudoun Athlete of the Month throughout the  2016-17 academic school year!

We are extremely proud to have Performance Edge on our team.  Dave Mikel, CEO of Performance Edge offers exceptional competitive sports training to exceptional athletes who demand it.

The Performance Edge Mission is to prevent injury, optimize strength and power, and instill confidence and self-discipline.

Multiple Oregon Ducks football players hospitalized after grueling workouts

A Note from Dave:

Rhabdomyolysis is no joke! A severe overtraining condition often seen in Crossfit, High Intensity and canned training programs. People aren’t cattle! A quality strength & conditioning program consists of progressive development, individual specificity, adapting volume and intensity levels based on injury prevention and on the clients/athletes specific goals, sport and position. At Performance Edge our qualified, certified and professionally degreed staff provide you the best private individualized training program in Northern Virginia. Bring Your Potential…We’ll Help You Develop it!

View the original article here: http://www.oregonlive.com/ducks/index.ssf/2017/01/oregon_ducks_workouts_hospital.html

UPDATE, Jan. 17: Oregon has suspended its strength coach and issued an apology on behalf of its athletic department after the players’ hospitalization.

At least three Oregon Ducks football players were hospitalized after enduring a series of grueling strength and conditioning workouts at UO last week, The Oregonian/OregonLive has learned.

Offensive linemen Doug Brenner and Sam Poutasi and tight end Cam McCormick are in fair condition and remained at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at Riverbend in Springfield on Monday, a hospital spokeswoman said. They have been in the hospital since late last week after workouts that occurred during the team’s return from holiday break.

Poutasi’s mother, Oloka, said that her son complained of very sore arms after the workouts and had been diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis, a syndrome in which soft muscle tissue is broken down with “leakage into the blood stream of muscle contents,” according to the NCAA medical handbook. Depending on the severity, it has the potential to lead to damaged kidneys.

“The safety and welfare of all of our student-athletes is paramount in all that we do,” Oregon wrote in a statement on behalf of the entire athletic department. “While we cannot comment on the health of our individual students, we have implemented modifications as we transition back into full training to prevent further occurrences.

“We thank our medical staff and trainers for their continued monitoring of the students and we will continue to support our young men as they recover.”

Oregon coach Willie Taggart visited Riverbend to meet with some of the hospitalized players before leaving the state to recruit.

Players this week were required to finish the same workouts, which were described by multiple sources as akin to military basic training, with one said to include up to an hour of continuous push-ups and up-downs. An Oregon official disputed a claim that some players had “passed out,” saying the training staff did not see any players faint; another UO official later said that athletic trainers were available to those who needed treatment during the workouts.

On social media Monday, some players expressed their belief the severity of the workouts had been exaggerated, and that they had been difficult but not out of the ordinary.

Junior cornerback Ugochukwu Amadi wrote on Twitter: “The workout was not even what the media is portraying it to be.”

Some players later complained of discolored urine, which is a common symptom of rhabdomyolysis. After testing, others were found to have highly elevated levels of creatine kinase, an indicator of the syndrome.

Rhabdomyolysis can be triggered after a spike in intensity of an athlete’s workouts and by overexertion during those workouts. For the first time since 2004, Oregon did not qualify for a postseason bowl game in 2016, and players were left to exercise on their own during their nearly monthlong break from school. Oregon hired Irele Oderinde its new football strength and conditioning coach earlier this month. He followed Taggart from South Florida, where Oderinde had worked as the school’s director of athletic performance since 2014.

The 6-foot-2, 310-pound Brenner is entering his senior season, while the 6-4, 315-pound Poutasi and 6-5, 240-pound McCormick will be eligible to play in 2017 after using last fall to redshirt.

Reports of multiple players being affected by rhabdomyolysis are rare. In August, eight volleyball players from Texas Women’s University were hospitalized. In 2011, 13 players from the University of Iowa were hospitalized due to the syndrome after working out during their winter conditioning program. In August 2010, two dozen football players from McMinnville High School were hospitalized, with some requiring surgery, after complaining of intense workouts held in high heat with little water.

The NCAA medical handbook listed “novel workouts or exercises immediately following a transitional period” such as a winter break as one of its 10 factors that can increase the risk of rhabdomyolysis. It also cautioned that “all training programs should start slowly, build gradually, include adequate rest and allow for individual differences.”

— Andrew Greif
agreif@oregonian.com
@andrewgreif

John Champe Basketball Standout Dom Fragala Named Viva Loudoun Athlete of the Month

Aldie, VA (January 18, 2017) – Please join us in congratulating John Champe’s Dom Fragala as the December 2016 Performance Edge/Viva Loudoun Athlete of the Month!

“It feels pretty good because I feel like I put a lot of hard work in this season, and the hard work is paying off,” Fragala said.

Fragala is not only the leading scorer in Loudoun County, but is the top scorer in the entire Washington Metropolitan region. At his current mark of 36.4 points per game, he is nearly six points ahead of the next highest scorer in the region and over 12 points ahead of the next highest scorer in Loudoun County.

At 36.4 points per game, Dom Fragala is the leading scorer in the Washington Metropolitan region. (Photo © Chas Sumser/Viva Loudoun)

His incredible December was highlighted by back-to-back games of 63 and 52 points. His 63-point outburst came on Dec. 12 against Freedom-South Riding, which was the most points scored in a VHSL game since 1984. He followed that epic performance with 52 points on Dec. 19 against Briar Woods, as he was able to knock down seven three-pointers.

“I had two big games that really boosted my confidence, scoring 63 points, I didn’t realize how big that was going to be, but I just work hard and try to achieve more,” Fragala said.

The 63-point performance helped bring Champe back from a large fourth quarter deficit against the Eagles to force overtime and ultimately go on to win. The 52-point game against the Falcons was capped off by knocking down the two game-winning free throws to win by a single point.

“My teammates told me to keep putting pressure on the defense and to keep attacking, and my coaches kept telling me to keep attacking and keep getting to my spots where I know I can make it. I have a lot of trust in my teammates and that’s helps a lot,” he said.

As Champe’s leading returning scorer, Fragala has doubled his scoring average from last year. (Photo © Aaron Wyche/Viva Loudoun)

The 5-foot-11, 150-pound guard is in his second season with the Knights after transferring from Bishop O’Connell, a school that battles in the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (WCAC), one of the best prep basketball conferences in the nation.

He scored just over 300 points in two seasons with O’Connell, highlighted by a 21-point outing against basketball superpower St. John’s as a freshman.

“At O’Connell I learned a lot about the game, they really grew my knowledge,” Fragala said.

In his first season with Champe as a junior, the versatile scoring threat averaged 18.3 points per game, good for second on the team behind Kuony Deng, who averaged 19.4 points per game.

After losing seven players to graduation, including Deng, Fragala knew he needed to step up as the team’s leading returning scorer this season. Clearly, that mission has been accomplished as he has doubled his output from one year ago. The second leading scorer on this year’s team is Tyler Savage with 10.6 points per contest.

“Our whole last year was basically all seniors, now being one out of three seniors I’ve had to be more vocal and lead by action too.”

Fragala scored his 1,000th high school career point from the free throw line. (Photo © Aaron Wyche/Viva Loudoun)

Fragala eclipsed the 1,000-point threshold for his high school career the day after his 52-point showing in a 38-point performance on Dec. 20 in a win against Manassas Park.

He credits his jump in productivity with the hard work he put in during the offseason. It wasn’t just the time on the court, however, but more the time spent in the gym that has propelled him to success.

“I was in the weight room a lot trying to get stronger and working on my stamina because I knew I would be in the game most of the time,” he said.

Though he still needs to continue getting stronger in order to successfully compete at the collegiate level next year, he has received one Division I offer so far from Mississippi Valley State in Itta Bena, Miss. They compete in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC). He still hopes to get more offers before the end of the season.

Before he can worry about college basketball, he wants to finish his Champe career on a high note. As far as personal accolades go, he wants to be named all-conference, all-region, and all-state. As for the team, he wants to surpass the success of last year’s squad and make a run at a state championship.

“I just need to keep doing everything I was doing in December and keep the gas pedal down to help the team win games,” Fragala said.

Viva Loudoun: We Live For Loudoun™

Written by Josh Apple
Special to Viva Loudoun
Copyright © Viva Loudoun Media Communications LLC.
All Rights Reserved
@JoshApple1

Viva Loudoun has teamed up with Performance Edge  to recognize an outstanding Loudoun County student-athlete, and their exceptional achievements for a given month by naming a Viva Loudoun Athlete of the Month throughout the  2016-17 academic school year!

We are extremely proud to have Performance Edge on our team.  Dave Mikel, CEO of Performance Edge offers exceptional competitive sports training to exceptional athletes who demand it.

The Performance Edge Mission is to prevent injury, optimize strength and power, and instill confidence and self-discipline.